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Software engineer · Starkville, MS

Hey, I’m Justin.

I build data-heavy software, from the pipelines underneath to the interfaces people use. And I’m almost always building something on the side.

Right now I’m a founding forward-deployed engineer at Origin, focused on core product engineering: helping companies see what their AI agents are actually doing. Before that, I kept real-time data flowing at Estuary and wrangled industrial sensor data at Camgian.

Say hello See the work

Right now in Starkville ·

Checking the clock…

Justin Smith, smiling, in a dark quarter-zip
02Work

My career, as a trace.

I spend my days in traces, spans, and telemetry, so here’s my résumé in the same shape. Pick a span to see what happened inside it.

  • 13–20M

    events a day through the Kafka pipelines I scaled and monitored at Camgian

  • 500K+

    concurrent streams kept in sync by the connector state I architected at Estuary

  • −95%

    peak memory on planner-generated ClickHouse queries at Origin

  • $8M

    U.S. Army contract secured by a proof of concept I led

trace · justin.careerspans 7duration 7y 2mostatus OK

Showing Founding Forward Deployed Engineer, Origin, Mar 2026 to now.

span origin · id d97f9a4f · parent justin.career

Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Origin · Remote

Mar 2026 → now · 7mo

Origin gives companies eyes on what their AI agents are actually doing across their machines: every request, tool call, and file change. I'm a founding forward-deployed engineer there, focused on core product engineering.

  • Cut peak memory 95%, bytes read 89%, and runtime 72% on planner-generated ClickHouse queries; moved endpoint-inventory filtering from per-row JSON scans to server-side Rust queries
  • Expanded the analytics graph for cost attribution by model, provider, tool, effort, organization, and user, then redesigned the token-spend dashboard (it replaced a customer's R&D Grafana board)
  • Built in-product bug reporting that files to Linear and gathers logs and telemetry from the Origin agent on the affected endpoint, with role-gated artifacts streamed from private S3 through a Google OAuth/RBAC-protected Rust tailnet service
  • Shipped custom-provider support for any OpenAI-compatible endpoint in dashboard chat, plus an entitlement-gated managed path backed by a KMS-protected OpenRouter key
  • Built Origin's first automated customer-intelligence brief, combining agent telemetry and traces, Slack context, Python/MCP analytics, and LLM analysis into daily Slack, PDF, and interactive reports

Attributes

clickhouse.peak_memory
−95%
clickhouse.bytes_read
−89%
clickhouse.runtime
−72%
focus
core product engineering
status
in progress

Stack

  • Rust
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Python
  • ClickHouse
  • MCP
  • OpenTelemetry
  • AWS
  • LLMs
03Projects

Always building something.

Client work, product ideas for disc golf, experiments with new AI tools, and building in public on X. Here’s what’s on the bench right now, and a few things that have shipped.

On the workbench

What I’m building right now.

updated september 2026

  • Day job

    Origin's core product

    Founding FDE, focused on core product engineering for the platform that shows companies what their AI agents are actually doing.

    originhq.com
  • In progress

    Visual editor + design refresh

    For State of Mind Psychiatry: a visual editor so the team can update their own site, and a refined, refreshed design.

    The site
  • Exploring

    Disc golf product ideas

    Early ideas for tools I want as a competitive player.

  • Posting

    Building in public on X

    Sharing what I'm building and learning along the way.

  • Always

    New AI tools, constantly

    New models, agents, and dev tools, mostly to see how they change the way software gets built.

Recently shipped

Client work · Starkville, MS

State of Mind Psychiatry

A local psychiatry practice needed a website that felt calm and trustworthy, and made booking an appointment painless.

I designed and built it with Astro, connected online scheduling through IntakeQ, and I keep it running. Now I’m building a visual editor so the team can update their own pages, and refining and refreshing the design along the way.

  • Astro
  • IntakeQ scheduling
  • Responsive
  • Visual editor (in progress)
  • Design refresh (in progress)
Visit the site
stateofmindpsychiatric.com
The State of Mind Psychiatry homepage: 'Transform Struggles into Strengths' beside a puzzle-piece illustration of a head
The same homepage on a phone

Internal tool · Origin

Customer-intelligence briefs

Daily briefs for 15 customers that blend agent telemetry and traces, Slack context, MCP-powered analytics, and LLM analysis, delivered to Slack, PDF, and interactive reports for Sales, GTM, and Engineering.

  • Python
  • MCP
  • LLMs
  • Slack

Open source · Estuary

Real-time data connectors

Work on Estuary's Python connector SDK: multi-tenant state for 500K+ concurrent streams, async throughput measured in GB/min, and a zero-downtime migration for 25 enterprise customers.

  • Python
  • asyncio
  • CDC
Merged pull requests

Personal · 2026

justinsmith.sh

The site you're on. Next.js, Tailwind, and MDX, plus a hand-built trace viewer, a putting game, and a tiny shell. Press / to try it.

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind
View the source
04Life

Off the clock: disc golf, DIY, and my two best friends.

I was born in Michigan, raised in Northeast Mississippi, and I’ve been a Starkville local since my Mississippi State days. My cousin helped me build my first computer, a Core 2 Duo desktop. I wanted it for games. I stayed for the software.

Where my time goes

  • Disc golf

    I'm a heavy disc golfer, and I compete a good bit in the MPO (pro) division.

    pdga #200786 · rating 935 ↓

  • My wife

    My best friend. We spend a ton of time together, growing and laughing, and most of the photos below are ours.

    role: best friend

  • Scout

    My best buddy, and my coworker since I work from home. We play, learn, and keep each other company.

    role: best buddy, coworker

  • DIY home projects

    Lots of them. There's always a next project around the house.

    status: always mid-project

Sink a putt

Every putt you make is a fact about me.

0/18 facts

Stop the marker in the green to hit chains.

PDGA #200786

From MA3 to MPO.

I played my first PDGA tournament in August 2022, and my first rating was an 814. Since then I’ve worked my way up through the amateur divisions, won four tournaments, and now play MPO, the pro division. In September 2026 I threw my first 1000-rated round: a 1007, still unofficial.

My PDGA profile
Rating
935
+121 since my first rating
Next update
~941
+6 projected for Oct 13
Best round
1007
11th Autumn Glory Open, Sep 2026 (unofficial)
Tournaments
49
4 wins · 20 podiums

Rating, round by round

  • Official rating
  • Projected
  • Round rating
  • Unofficial round
  • Win
  • Podium

My official PDGA rating went from 814 in Sep 2022 to a peak of 945, and it's 935 as of Sep 8, 2026, projected to be about 941 after the Oct 13 update. Each tournament also sits in a lane for the division I played. Use the arrow keys to step through tournaments, or switch to the table.

Next ratings update

~941 on Oct 13 +6

Projected from the 20 rounds that should count, with the newest 5 counting double. PDGA publishes updates on the second Tuesday of each month.

  • New rounds

    • 11th Autumn Glory Open942 · 1007
    • Winston County Classic883 · 942

  • Aging out

    • 2025 Dawg Daze Open916 · 865

    More than 12 months older than my newest round.

  • Left out as outliers

    • Title Town Classic – The Seven Wonders849

    Too far below my other rounds to count.

An estimate from PDGA’s published formula. Run against my history, it matched 7 of the last 12 official updates exactly and 11 within a point.

Along the way

  1. Aug 2022

    First tournament

    2022 Dawg Daze Open, MA3

  2. Mar 2023

    Moved up to MA2

    2nd 1010 Classic

  3. Aug 2023

    Moved up to MA1

    Dawg Daze Open 2023

  4. Mar 2024

    Rated 900+

    Official rating: 901

  5. Dec 2024

    First win

    Starkville Christmas Classic, MA2

  6. Aug 2025

    First MPO event

    One and Done at Legion

  7. Mar 2026

    First pro cash

    7th at the 5th 1010 Classic

  8. Jul 2026

    Peak rating

    Official rating: 945

  9. Sep 2026

    First 1000-rated round

    1007 at the 11th Autumn Glory Open (unofficial)

  10. Nov 2026

    Up next

    DGPT – JomezPro Series Finale – Cactus Rock, Tuscaloosa, AL

From pdga.com · official ratings as of Sep 8, 2026 · results through Sep 26, 2026 · XC-tier events (usually doubles) aren’t shown

  • Scout as a puppy, sitting in front of a stone wall
    Day one.
  • Scout lying on a wood floor in front of a Christmas tree
    Supervising Christmas.
  • Scout, grown up, sitting in a yard with pine trees behind him at sunset
    All grown up.

Best buddy, full-time coworker

Meet Scout.

Scout is my best buddy. I work from home, so he’s my coworker too: we play, learn, and keep each other company. He was born September 1, 2024, and we drove three and a half hours to bring him home. (Yes, I had to convince my wife first.) He’s been worth every mile.

name
scout
breed
springer spaniel
born
2024-09-01
drive_home
3.5 hours
role
coworker (wfh)
status
good boy

From the camera roll

  • Justin and his wife sharing their first dance at their wedding
    Our first dance.
  • Justin throwing a disc from a tee pad in the woods
    Teeing off at Cactus Rock.
  • Justin and his wife holding fresh coconuts in Jamaica
    Honeymoon in Jamaica.
  • Justin and his wife smiling in front of a waterfall
    Chasing waterfalls.
  • Justin sitting on a bench on a wooded disc golf course, his bag at his feet
    Between holes.
  • Justin and his wife sitting in a giant beach chair in Gulf Shores, Alabama
    Big chair, Gulf Shores.
  • Justin holding a Hurts Donut bag and a box of donuts
    First trip to Hurts Donut.
  • Justin and his wife with bikes on a bridge at sunset
    Sunset bike ride.
05Say hello

Let’s build something that holds up.

Got a product idea, a gnarly data problem, or a website that needs some love? Or maybe you need a fourth for a round of disc golf. My inbox is open.

contact@justinsmith.sh
LinkedIn GitHub

Based in Starkville, Mississippi · Working remotely on Central Time

guest@justinsmith.sh: ~